The X Factor UK (Series 11)
Series 11 'of ''The X Factor ''premiered on August 30, 2014 and ended on December 14, 2014. This series is the first to be broadcast on American television with the first episode being aired on AXS TV the day after the UK premiere. This series was won by 29-year pop-rock singer Ben Haenow, who was mentored by Simon Cowell in the Over 25s category. This was his first win as a mentor since Leona Lewis in Series 3 and his third overall. Fellow finalists Stereo Kicks, Fleur East and Andrea Faustini also secured record deals after the show with minor success. It was watched by an average of 8.6 million viewers - around 800,000 less than the previous series. Production After three years on the US version, Simon Cowell returned to the judging panel alongside and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, who was judging on the show for the first time since 2010 and newcomer Mel B. They replaced former judges Sharon Osbourne, Gary Barlow and Nicole Scherzinger. Louis Walsh remained as the only judge to have been on all eleven seasons. Dermot O'Leary returned as the host for the eighth time. Matt Richardson and Caroline Flack were replaced by DJ Sarah-Jane Crawford as the presenter of ''The Xtra Factor. Brian Friedman, who served as creative director from series 4-7 before returning to work on the first three live shows of Series 9, returned to replace Jerry Reeve and Mark "Swany" Swanhart. Judges Twists/Changes '''Age Limit: The minimum age was lowered from 16 to 14, like in Series 4 and 5. Wildcard: There were four Wildcards this season, raising the number of finalists from 12 to 16. The twist was that the judges would choose another category's wildcard, and not their own. This was a change to Series 9 where the wildcard was voted for by the public. Double Elimination: Because of the bigger number of finalists, double eliminations were required to narrow down the competition. Finalists Selection process Auditions See: List of The X Factor auditionees (series 11) Continuing from the format from the last series, both room auditions and arena auditions were held for the judges. Locations for the auditions included: Machester, London, Newcastle and Edinburgh. Notable returning auditionees included: Fleur East, who reached the live shows in Series 2 in the girl group Addictiv Ladies; Chloe Jasmine, who was rejected by the judges at her audition in Series 3; Amy Connelly, who reached judges' houses in Series 5; Jake Quickenden, who reached judges' houses in Series 9; Lydia Lucy, who reached bootcamp in Series 10; Tom Mann, who reached bootcamp in series 10; Barclay Beales, who reached bootcamp in series 10; and Paul Akister, who reached judges houses in series 10. Bootcamp A total of 114 acts successfully reached the bootcamp this year. They were put into groups and took part in a sing-off, where the judges cut half of the acts, leaving only 57 acts to compete for the six chair challenge. Six Chair Challenge See: Six Chair Challenge (series 11) Judges' Houses See: Judges' Houses (series 11) *Overload Generation were originally eliminated during Boot Camp after being switched out in the six chair challenge. Despite this, Mel B chose them as Walsh's Wildcard act over the three groups that had been eliminated during the Judges Houses round. Live Shows There were ten weeks of live shows. Four wildcards were chosen with a twist: judges would choose each other's returning act. There would also be, because of the last twist, double eliminations to narrow down the 16 finalists. Results Summary Ratings Controversies Adam Miller In July 2014, it was reported that auditionee Adam Miller was suing producers of the show for "cruel" treatment, claiming that they urged him to audition and persuaded him that he "wouldn't be embarrassing" himself, but he was then laughed at by Cowell during his audition which caused much controversy. Miller reportedly required counselling, and said, "I've been lied to, manipulated and used by the show and I can't be the only one. It might be Simon Cowell and it might be The X Factor, but that's wrong and I'm not going to let them get away with it. They approached me. They gave me a bit of self-confidence, then cruelly and deliberately stripped it away to make good TV." A spokesperson confirmed that Miller's audition would not be broadcast. Chloe Jasmine There were allegations of favouritism after Chloe Jasmine was allowed to audition twice. She apparently fluffed her arena audition by forgetting her words and bursting into tears, but none of this was shown on television. Instead, viewers saw Jasmine sail through to bootcamp after wowing the judges on a different night and singing the song "Why Don't You Do Right", tricking them into thinking that that had been her only audition. However, a show insider claimed that Chloe was given a second chance because she was going through a rough time: "Chloe was given a second chance as she was upset during her first performance. She had recently split up with her boyfriend so she wasn't in a fit state to perform. We gave her the chance to go away and compose herself. This does happen and the only reason it wasn't seen on the show was that there wasn't enough time to fit all of this into one episode." Stereo Kicks During The Xtra Factor after the second results show, in which Stereo Kicks took part in the sing-off, Crawford asked Walsh, their mentor, about them. He said, live on television, that he "never wanted eight in the band", "Simon put them together" and generally insinuated that he wanted to cut several members from the band. During several interviews between the week 2 results and the week 3 performance, Stereo Kicks mentioned how disappointed they were that their mentor didn't seem to want them, and there were rumours that the band would be split up during the week 3 live performances. These rumours turned out to be false, and Cowell made Walsh apologise to the band after their week 3 performance. Stereo Kicks member Jake Sims faced controversy for tweeting about drug use whilst on the show, leaving his place in the band uncertain, yet he ended up staying. Stereo Kicks announced they had split up on 18 July 2015. Fleur East After Fleur East completed her performance in week 2, Mel B commented that East had allowed the backing vocals of the track to drown out her own, and accused her of "cheating." This caused a massive uproar backstage after the live show had ended, especially between Mel B and Cowell, East's mentor. The following week, after East's performance, Mel B commented that East had proven her wrong all along, praised her for her performance and retracted her cheating allegations from the previous week. Also, as the semi-finals approached, the other semi-finalists, Andrea Faustini, Ben Haenow and Lauren Platt, were reported to have complained about the judges apparently setting East up to win, with a source saying "It's beginning to look obvious the judges want her to win. It may as well be called The F Factor – it's very unfair." Haenow later stated in an interview that the rumours were false, and that their mentor Cowell is not biased towards any of his acts. Judges comments During the fourth live show, Fernandez-Versini said that her act Lola Saunders kept the theme of Halloween by having mentally unstable people dancing behind in straitjackets while performing the Gnarls Barkley song "Crazy", this caused problems to charities that help mental health suffers and no public apology has been issued since. Results show performances During the results show of the semi-finals, Idina Menzel and Michael Bublé performed the holiday classic "Baby, It's Cold Outside", afterwards Mel B and Fernandez-Versini refused to stand, claiming it was because of nerves as their artists were in the bottom two and were unable to move in their dresses. Many outlets reported this as false as they were both seen dancing to Fifth Harmony and were lip synching through the track. Trivia *As with Series 2 to Series 6 and Series 8, the winning act and the runner-up performed the same potential winner's singles. However, if Andrea made the final, this wouldn't have happened, as he had a different choice given to him. Category:Series Category:The X Factor (UK) Category:Series 11